The Hunted
by DarkLordKardos
Summary: Phaaze, along with its queen, Dark Samus, has been destroyed. However, Samus Aran has little time to rest, as a familiar foe returns to hunt her down. Even with the help of Captain Olimar and the Pikmin, can she survive? Pikmin/ Metroid crossover.
1. Chapter 1

_ "Damage reports coming in. We've lost 37 of the fleet. Half of the surviving ships are reporting heavy casualties."_

_"Sir, we've confirmed the wormhole has disappeared. All the Leviathans are gone. The crisis is over!"_

_Admiral Dane listened to the news with a mixture of sadness and elation. The universe was free of the intergalactic scourge of Phazon, but so many had died…and the one who had been fighting the organic substance for the longest…_

_"What about Samus?" he asked, fearing the worst._

_There was a long silence, and then, "Negative, sir. No contact."_

_The leader of the Galactic Federation troops frowned. He knew he should be used to this kind of thing, but…_

_Suddenly his face broke into an unexpected grin, as the familiar orange-colored ship flew past the flagship. He saluted the bounty hunter, managing to keep his composure._

"_Sir, we're getting a transmission from Samus's ship." A blue panel slid down on the bridge window, triumphantly displaying the large words "Mission Complete" across its surface._

_The gunship soared away from the Federation fleet until it was no more than an orange dot in the distant depths of space._

Samus Aran smiled satisfactorily, imagining the looks on the troopers' faces at her sudden appearance. It had been a bit too dramatic for her tastes, but she couldn't resist.

The Bounty Hunter leaned back leisurely. Her evil bitch of a doppelganger was gone, along with, presumably, all the Phazon in the universe, and there were no missions for her to carry out at the moment. All evidence at the moment pointed towards a well-deserved vacation. Where to go?

First, she decided, she'd pay a visit to SkyTown. The mechanical paradise was the closest thing to a home she had had in the last few months in the battle against Dark Samus, and Samus needed some time to simply think. She hadn't had a lot of that lately. After that…Well, after that, she'd go (metaphorically speaking) wherever the wind took her.

She typed in the coordinates for Elysia on her ship's dashboard and closed her eyes. No Leviathans to destroy, no corruption to worry about, no Ridley to hunt down…Samus Aran finally felt able to relax.

Light-years away, a lone Reptilicus prowled the ruined architecture of Bryyo. His tribe had been even more wary than they usually were, since the arrival of the Hunter. Whenever it looked the demoness was finally gone, she was back to stick her helmet where it didn't belong yet again.

This time, however, it seemed as though her absence was permanent. The glowing blue stuff the Hunter was always trying to destroy had mysteriously disappeared, and she had collected every last hidden item known to the tribes.

The Reptilicus sniffed the air and licked its scaly lips with a long, forked tongue. No longer would its tribe's ribs be poking through the skin of their chests. No longer would they be listening closely for the sounds of laser fire. It was safe once again to begin the hunt.

The Reptilicus's celebration was short-lived. It ran forward a few steps before an extremely painful sensation lanced through it, as if the creature's blood had been replaced with plasma. It could feel its energy being drained…all it wanted in the world was for this horrible pain to stop…it had to end sooner or later…

Finally, the Reptilicus's wish was granted. The feeling went away, and the creature lay on the ground moaning weakly.

"There was a Hunter here," said a voice. If the Reptilicus had had enough strength to shudder, it would have. The voice sounded as if it had shattered into pieces, and then slowly pieced back together by a craftsman of extremely poor quality. If there was any word for the sound of the voice, that word was _wrong. _

"This Hunter went by the name of Samus Aran. I would like to know where she went." The Reptilicus fervently wracked its primitive brain for any possible information on the subject of Samus Aran's whereabouts. Suddenly it had a flash of memory; a cool female voice echoing from inside the ship—_Destination: Elysia._

"Elyssssia," croaked the pathetic creature. "Hunter…desssstination… Elyssssia…"

"Thank you," the voice grated. "Your assistance has been greatly appreciated." Any hopes that these words were sincere quickly evaporated as a blaster leveled at the Reptilicus's head. One shot and the creature was no more.

A figure emerged from the shadows. It was humanoid in shape, and wore armor that slightly resembled that used by the Galactic Federation. However, this model was blue-violet, and the build was considerably bulkier.

The figure lifted a hand to the side of its helmet, and the visor flashed dark green. A large X-shaped gunship hovered down from the sky. It was obviously Hunter-class, the same color as its pilot, with the small words DELANO 7 printed on one wing.

The cockpit on the craft opened up, and the Hunter jumped agilely inside. It closed again, and a gloved hand with fingers like blades tapped in the coordinates. _Destination: Elysia. _

Inside his helmet, Sylux did his own twisted imitation of a smile. This time, Aran wouldn't get off so easily.

_The premise of this fic is based off the 100 ending of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where a ship resembling the Delano 7 is seen following Samus's gunship. Though I never actually played Metroid Prime Hunters, Sylux seems like a very interesting and mysterious character, and so this fic was born. I plan to provide my own explanation of Sylux's backstory, an inevitable Ridley appearance, and a crossover with another game series which you probably wouldn't expect. Stay tuned (and please review)!  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_Looking back, the note at the end of the first chapter made me sound like a real smartass. Ah well._

_Also, the first chapter was pretty boring as it mostly just set up the story, and recapped what happened at the end of MP3. Hopefully more interesting stuff will happen. Now I'm skipping past Samus's short visit to Skytown and she is now floating in space, wondering where to go next. _

_Well, her ship is what's floating in space, but she's inside it. Wondering where to go next. Yeah…Anyways, on to the longish chapter._

Samus sat in the cockpit of her gunship. One might think she was calculating her next cunning strategy to save the universe, a faster way to kill Space Pirates, or even just ways to be more badass. In reality, she was stretched out in the pilot's chair in her Zero Suit, relaxing for once. (Although, if there was any way to be badass while relaxing, Samus Aran could probably manage it.)

A loud noise echoed from the cargo hold. Samus snapped her head up and pulled out her paralyzer gun. A bounty hunter was always prepared. However, alert quickly turned to puzzlement as Samus realized something: Her ship didn't have a cargo hold.

Suddenly a giant creature screamed into the cockpit with a shrill roar and grabbed the bounty hunter in long black claws, causing her to drop her gun. Samus twisted around to see an unfortunately familiar face.

"Hello, Ridley," she said calmly.

A long snout filled with sword-size teeth grinned. "_Greetings, Aran." _ The creature spoke in a wheezing, raspy voice that made Samus shudder. She had learned to conceal her disgust and hatred of the space dragon Ridley over the years, but only just.

"_Did you really fall for that Phazon lightshow I put on at the Leviathan?" _ Ridley gave a garbled imitation of a chuckle, and tightened his grip._"It must have been more impressive than even I gave myself credit for. You really thought I was dead!"_

"I've learned enough…to know that scum like you…always comes back somehow," Samus managed to say from within Ridley's choking grasp.

"_Tough words," _Ridley crowed. _"Hope you don't mind them being your last!"_

With that the dragon threw Samus brutally against the window of her gunship. Before she could catch her breath, Ridley grabbed her again and whacked her against the control panels. They started to flash wildly.

The ship started to soar forwards. Samus knew she had felt worse in her career, but she couldn't remember when.

Ridley was not done. "_I'll make you pay for what you've put me through, you bitch!" _He slashed at her face with his serrated tail. "_Do you know how painful the Pirates' reincarnation process is?" _Ridley asked her. "_Well? Do you?"_

Samus shook her head weakly_. _She looked out the window of her ship, and a small smile crossed her face. "No…but I imagine…it felt a little like…this…"

Ridley's eyes narrowed. "_What the hell are you talking abou—"_

A large red cone crashed through the side of the ship, impaling Ridley on its tip. This was good and bad news for Samus. Her nemesis was out of the count again—but the airlock was now broken.

A vacuum began to pull the bounty hunter out of the new gaping hole in the side of her gunship. Samus started to choke, then closed her eyes. So this was what the end would be like. It was fitting, she thought, that one without a home would die in the desolate depths of space…

Suddenly a small hand grabbed Samus and dragged her out of the vacuum. Then everything went black.

--

Samus's eyes opened, and she immediately reached for her paralyzer gun. After she realized she didn't have her paralyzer gun, she settled for grabbing the thing nearest to her. This happened to be a small red cone-shaped object.

"My, my, aren't we the drama queen," drawled a monotonous, bored-sounding voice. To Samus's surprise, this seemed to be coming from the object she held in her hand. She let it go with a small yelp.

"In case you're wondering, you are currently on a Hocotatian cargo ship," the red cone thing told her, "which, incidentally, doesn't seem to be important enough to have been designated a name. Isn't that comforting?"

Samus looked around. She was in a rather cramped room containing few objects other than a small ratty cot and a flickering ceiling lamp. Every now and then the floor would shake, as if the ship could fall apart at any moment. She sat down warily on the bed.

"I am the aforementioned cargo ship's Research Pod," continued the object, which was now floating in midair. "I am designed to catalog data on any unkown life forms I may encounter, as well as fixing whatever needs fixing in this place. And you…" It circled Samus's head dizzily. "You are one of the strangest yet."

"Well, thanks," replied Samus sarcastically. "You're looking great too."

"I am, aren't I?" replied the Research Pod. "Glad you think so. Captain Olimar says I've developed something of an ego, but apparently he was…"

"Captain Olimar?" asked Samus curiously.

"He is the captain of this spacecraft," answered the Pod. "I would think that was obvious."

"Could I speak with him?" asked Samus.

"I don't know," said the floating cone doubtfully. "He said you should rest a while longer, as you've just been attacked by a rampaging space dragon. That was definitely the _second_ strangest life form I've encountered, by the way."

Samus thought the Research Pod needed to get some things straight if it thought she was stranger than Ridley.

"Plus, you may not have fully adjusted to our atmosphere yet. The Captain was worried the air filtration mask may not work."

"Air filtration mask?"

If a machine's voice could sound condescending, this one's definitely did. "The one you're wearing on your face, perhaps?"

Samus suddenly noticed the small round device attached to her mouth. Long tubes fed out of it into a small tank on her back. She mentally cursed herself for not noticing this earlier. She couldn't afford to be any less alert, even on vacation.

"What exactly is it filtering?"

"Hocotate's atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide," explained the Research Pod. "That doesn't bode so well for oxygen breathers such as yourself. So I reconfigured a spare carbon dioxide tank to filter in reverse, producing a steady supply of oxygen. Quite ingenious, if I do say so myself."

"Sure," said Samus, not really understanding what the thing had said. She suddenly felt very tired. She was surprised she didn't feel much worse, having had the daylights beaten out of her by a space dragon not too long ago…

"Hold on," said Samus, a sudden thought striking her. "How long have I been out?"

"A week or two," replied the Research Pod. "And a right pain it was to look after you, too. Did you know that you snore?"

_A week or two? _Suddenly, Samus Aran didn't feel quite so tired. "Could I please speak to your captain? I'm feeling fine."

"All right," said the Research Pod. "But if he gets mad, I'm blaming it all on you."

"Thanks," said Samus. She really didn't like this Research Pod all that much.

"You're welcome. Glad we get along so well. You should be able to find the Captain in the Steering Room." With that, the pod zipped off somewhere, presumably to fix some leaky gasket or another.

Samus got up shakily, and resisted the urge to lie back down again. She really had to find out where she was exactly, and whether or not she could get a message to the Galactic Federation alerting them to her whereabouts.

She left the room and walked down a short hallway. This led to a small door, about 3 feet high, that said in large yellow letters "STEERING ROOM." This left very little room for doubt as to where the Steering Room was. Checking instinctively for traps first, Samus stepped through the doorway.

A small figure sat in a chair facing the opposite direction from the bounty hunter. Samus assumed this was Captain Olimar.

He wore a stereotypical astronaut's suit, complete with gloves, boots, and a clear round helmet. Samus thought this looked rather like he was wearing a goldfish bowl on his head, and had to resist the urge to giggle. Hanging off the top of the helmet was a long silver antenna with a glowing red light on the end. This waved around in the air as he spoke to a comically large device shaped somewhat like a crowbar. It had a long cord attached to it that the Captain twirled with his fingers as he talked.

"I don't care what he says all the other kids are doing, he's not getting his ears pierced," the Captain said into the device. "Think of what the relatives would say!" He had a soft, pleasant voice that sounded somewhat exhausted at the moment. Samus didn't really know much about families, but this sounded like the voice of a father to her.

"Tell him I said no, and that's final!" He was trying to sound firm, but he really wasn't that good at it. "All right. Yes. I'll be back soon. I love you. Bye!" Captain Olimar pressed a button on the machine, and moved to put it back in the box on the wall. Then he noticed Samus.

"Oh!" he said, startled. "Hello! I didn't expect you to be up so soon!"

"I often defy people's expectations," said Samus coolly. "I'm Samus Aran, Bounty Hunter for the Galactic Federation."

"The Federation," said Olimar in a thoughtful tone. "That sounds important. I'm Captain Olimar. Nice to meet you!" He held out a hand.

"Likewise," replied Samus, bending over to shake the proffered hand. "If you don't mind me asking, where are we, exactly?

"We're on the…well, that is to say…er…Well, the truth is, I don't exactly know," said Olimar apologetically. "However, where we're headed is a planet I've visited a few times that I've dubbed Earff."

"Earff?" repeated Samus. What as strange name.

"Yes. I named it after the sound I make whenever we land," explained Olimar, sounding slightly embarrassed. "The ship always throws me out of the cockpit, and I always shout "Earff!" whenever I hit the ground. Strange, I know."

"I've heard stranger." Things like "SR388" and "Tallon IV" came to mind.

"It's home to indigenous creatures I call Pikmin, after the popular brand of Pikpik carrots I was eating before I discovered them."

"You have unusual strategies for naming things," remarked Samus.

Olimar chuckled. "That's true. I enjoy visiting the Pikmin from time to time. They don't make biting comments whenever I tell them things…" The captain got a strange look in his eyes for a second, but then it disappeared. "Anyway, you wouldn't mind accompanying me there, would you? I'm sure the Pikmin will be ecstatic."

Samus couldn't help liking the diminuitive space captain. The Galactic Federation could wait. It was her vacation, after all. "I would love to come."

"Wonderful!" Olimar clapped his hands. "I was looking forward to having no one but the lousy Research Pod for companionship. You can imagine…"

The bounty hunter could, unfortunately. "He's a bit stuck-up."

Captain Olimar chuckled again. It was a pleasant sound. Samus got the impression he make it very much. "Oh ho ho ho! He is, isn't he? Well, so glad you're coming! We should be there quite soon. Now would probably be a good time to get some more rest, if you don't mind me saying so."

Samus agreed wholeheartedly. She waved goodbye to Captain Olimar, and then headed back to her room. She lay down on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

--

Back in the desolate depths of space, pieces of Samus's gunship floated slowly. The combined damage from Ridley's attack and the collision with the Hocotatian cargo ship had been too much, and now the gunship was reduced to space debris.

This constituted a rather interesting predicament for Ridley. While space dragons can hold their breath for a surprising length of time, that really didn't help all that much when one was floating in the freezing depths of space.

Even with enhanced temperature-resistant armor and his natural dragon survival skills, the calculator the Space Pirates had installed in Ridley's brain estimated he had about two minutes to live. Needless to say, his chances weren't looking too good.

Luckily for Ridley, in what seemed to him a coincidence of epic proportions, a Hunter-class gunship happened to be passing by. It was colored green and blue, with the strange name DELANO 7 printed on the side.

Ridley didn't really care what it as called at the moment. He propelled himself toward the ship and rapped hard on the cockpit window.

What Ridley didn't know was that this was not a coincidence at all. The pilot of opened up a hatch in the rear of the craft and transmitted a message to the space dragon.

It took a lot to intimidate the Space Pirate captain, but the voice that echoed out of his transmission receptor chilled him to the bone.

"Hello, Ridley," said Sylux. "What a surprise."

_I think I'm the first person ever to attempt a Pikmin/Metroid crossover. In my opinion it's going pretty well. _

_Note: For the sake of clarity, I'm going to pretend Olimar is about three feet tall instead of a few inches. It keeps things from becoming needlessly complicated. Picture his height from Brawl. _

_And please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_New chapter new chapter_

Ridley narrowed his yellow eyes. He wanted to shout "You!", but that would have been both needlessly dramatic and potentially fatal.

The space dragon pulled himself through the hatch of the gunship. This took a bit of work, but nothing is too hard for someone with a few seconds left to live.

The door slid shut behind him once he was inside. Round green lights lit up, revealing that Ridley was in a small semicircle-shaped room. A screen suddenly blinked on showing a life feed of Sylux in the pilot's chair.

"Greetings, Commander Ridley," said the Hunter. "It's been a while."

"_Not long enough, in my opinion," _snarled the space dragon. "_Do you know how much trouble you've…"_

" Yes I do," interrupted Sylux emotionlessly. "And I'll cause double that amount if you don't cooperate and tell me where Aran is headed."

"_I have no idea where that bitch is going!" _shrieked Ridley. "_I was all ready to finally end her when some idiot crashed into the damn ship! Do you know…"_

"How long you've waited to kill her, how much you've wanted to, how much trouble she's caused?" cut off Sylux again in a bored voice. "Your complaining is really getting on my nerves."

A little irked at being interrupted again, Ridley tried to calm himself down. And failed. (Commander Ridley was famous for his notoriously short temper. Several Space Pirate subordinates would be able to tell you this firsthand, if they weren't dead.)

"Now I'm sorry you don't know where Samus Aran has gone. I'm afraid I'll have to use a more uncomfortable method to get the information I need."

Before Ridley could react, a large needle inserted into the side of his head and twisted. Suddenly he felt as though his memories were being rewinded. It was a very dizzying and painful sensation. Ridley suddenly wished the Space Pirates hadn't installed an easy-to-access video feed in his head.

It stopped at the point where the ship crashed through the wall and impaled Ridley. (Luckily for him, it had missed anything vital.) Then, to the space dragon's surprise, it continued to show a small figure jump out of the cockpit. It appeared to be wearing a fishbowl on his head. Ridley rasped a chuckle in spite of himself.

The figure produced a whistle and then blew into it. A small red cone-shaped thing with a propeller on top hovered out of the ship. The figure seemed to give some directives. Then the hovering thing floated over to Samus.

This whole watching-your-own-memories-that-you-don't-even-remember thing was really weird to Ridley, but what happened next took the cake. The red object released a green tractor beam, which took hold of Samus and sucked her inside faster than you could say "defying physics." That didn't make much sense. The thing was the size of the Hunter's head, for Zebes' sake.

The figure and the object went back into their ship, and it began to lift off. The engine stuttered a bit as if it might explode before the ship blasted into hyperspace.

The video feed clicked off, and Ridley was back in the small greenlit room.

"Your memories will be very helpful," said Sylux. "Thank you. Now I will jettison you into deep space. Hope you don't mind."

"_Wait, what?!" _Ridley roared. "_There's no need for…"_

"Actually, I'm afraid there…"

"_STOP INTERRUPTING ME!"_ the space dragon shrieked. "_I can help you look for Aran! I can be your…ah, partner!"_

"I'm a Hunter," replied Sylux coldly. "I work alone. I don't have a use for partners, especially over-temperamental space dragons."

Ridley racked his brains for any way he might be of use. "_Errr…The Space Pirates will give you an enormous reward for Aran's head if you keep me alive!"_

Sylux's visor flashed. "Aren't the Pirates bankrupt?"

"_Ahhhh…no?" _Ridley lied weakly.

Sylux reached for the AIRLOCK RELEASE button.

"_No no no no no!" _said Ridley hastily. Then he had an idea. "_I'll fry your ship if you press that button!" _He let a lick of flame escape from his mouth for emphasis.

"It's blackmail now, is it? How will I ever survive?" said Sylux sarcastically. "My ship is fireproof, you idiot."

Ridley hadn't counted on that answer.

"How did you get on Aran's ship in the first place, anyway?" asked Sylux unexpectedly.

"_New Pirate teleportation technology," _explained Ridley, glad that he hadn't been jettisoned yet. "_Very recently finalized. Used from a safe distance, of course."_

"Of course," nodded Sylux. "Stolen from the Federation, I assume?"

Ridley started to argue, then decided against it. "_Yeah."_

"I want it."

Ridley gaped. "_What?_"

"If I keep you alive, I want the teleportation technology in exchange for Samus Aran's head," said Sylux. "Otherwise you're space garbage."

"…_I suppose…"_

"Glad we have an agreement," grated the Hunter, and the video feed ended.

As soon as Sylux couldn't see him anymore, Ridley grinned. Those acting lessons had paid off. As soon as Samus Aran was dead, the space dragon would tear Sylux to tiny shreds. Simple as that. And it even rhymed.

Ridley's grin slowly faded as he realized he would have to sleep in the cold cargo hold of the Delano 7 until then. Ridley hissed. Make that tiny, _tiny_ shreds.

--

Samus Aran was bored. It was not a particularly familiar feeling to her, as she rarely lacked things to do. The bounty hunter profession was many things, but "boring" was nowhere on that list. Right now she was lying on her cot practicing faster ways of drawing her paralyzer gun.

Samus had recently discovered a rather worrying situation: her rescuers hadn't saved her Power Suit. She wasn't really sure what had taken her so long to realize this, but she had to figure out a way to get it back or the great Samus Aran wouldn't be very much use as a Hunter anymore. Maybe this planet that Olimar dubbed "Erff" secretly harbored ancient Chozo artifacts. Doubtful, but it was a hope.

Suddenly a horrible grating sound echoed throughout the ship. Samus covered her ears in discomfort. It went on for another half-minute or so before stopping.

"Sorry about that," Olimar's voice echoed from a speaker on the wall. "I thought I asked the Research Pod to fix the intercom…Anyway, this is your captain speaking. I suppose that's pretty obvious. Sorry. I just wanted to let you know that we're entering the atmosphere of planet Erff, so you might want to get ready for landing. That's all!"

The speaker became silent. Samus yawned. The bounty hunter hadn't been able to get very much sleep lately, despite the fact that she felt extremely tired. It was probably because of the poor condition of the ship; it seemed as though it might fall apart at any time.

Samus stretched and stood up. She looked at her reflection in the grimy mirror in the corner of her room. Her long blonde hair was a mess, and there were still faint bruises on her face from Ridley's attack. She made a mental note to make sure Ridley's death was just a little more painful next time. How many times could the Pirates resurrect him, anyway?

The ship shook violently, and a picture frame fell off a shelf in the corner of the room. The glass smashed when it hit the ground.

The bounty hunter picked it up. It showed a group of Hocotatian people standing together. Samus recognized the tallest one (though this wasn't saying much) as Olimar. She assumed the rest of them were his wife and kids.

Olimar looked a lot more happy and relaxed then when she had met him. Samus smiled, a rare facial expression for the most feared hunter in the galaxy. It was clear that Captain Olimar loved his family. She wished she could remember her parents. The Chozo had told her they had been extremely kind, and were hospitable to anyone they met. Maybe that was why they were unprepared for the Pirates' attack.

And leading that attack had been none other than Ridley. Samus stopped smiling.

She put the picture back on the shelf, just before the ship landed. Hard.

This wasn't anything like the graceful touch-down of her old gunship. This was a full-blown crash into the ground. Samus, along with everything else in the room, was thrown forward, backward, upside down, and sideways. It was if she was in a giant washing machine.

Finally it stopped, and Samus was left lying in a pile of assorted debris. Now it was clear why the Research Pod didn't put too much effort into cleaning the ship; it would soon just get messed up again.

The speaker on the wall gave a sound like a loud sneeze, and then Olimar's voice came out again. "_Cough…hack…_Er…_cough…_we've landed." Then it was silent again.

_Phew…another chapter finished. Now we get to finally see what would happen if Samus encountered an army of Pikmin! I'd really like to hear what people think of this story, so please, please give me any feedback you may have. Ciao!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A few notes to my wonderful reviewers:_

_HAL-9001: I noticed the POV-change problem after I uploaded the story, so I added better page breaks. Thanks for alerting me._

_Peanuckle: Fortunately, I don't plan on doing either of the things you're worried about. Ridley is much too cool of a villain to reduce to a joke character, and Samus/Olimar would indeed be way too weird. (There's the species difference, not to mention the fact that the Captain's already happily married.) The most they'll become is good friends._

_And thanks to everyone else who reviewed. Here's another chapter!_

Sylux studied the monitor containing Ridley's memories closely. There had to be a clue to Samus's destination somewhere.

He had his computer scan the craft that had crashed into Samus's gunship. _Hocotatian Cargo Ship, _it beeped. _Piloted by Captain Olimar. _ _Developed as a means of transporting goods for the renowned space trade company Hocotate Freight. Destination: Unknown._

Sylux tapped his long fingers on the dashboard. He zoomed up on the image of the cargo ship until he could see inside the cockpit. Then he almost laughed.

A small screen near the cargo ship's steering interface read: _Destination: Planet of the Pikmin, temporarily dubbed "Erff." Coordinates: 1456-5467, Milky Way Galaxy, Sector 4._

That had been way too easy.

--

Samus tried to move her legs, but they were trapped under a large rusty beam. However, as with the majority of Samus's problems, this was most easily solved by shooting it to bits.

Once she was free, Samus stood up. The normal exit to the room was covered by debris, but after some careful searching she managed to locate a small hatch in the wall.

Samus converted her paralyzer gun into energy whip form, then lassoed the handle on the hatch door. Ripping the door off its hinges, she leapt agilely up to the rim of the opening and crawled out.

She was met with one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

The ship had landed in a forest of some kind, but it was like no forest Samus had been to. The trees towered up into the heavens, and the air was filled with slowly falling flower petals. Sunlight shone down like a stream of molten gold, drenching everything in its glow, and there seemed to be no sign of any technology whatsoever.

It was one of the more alien places she had been to in her career, but if there was such a thing as paradise, Samus Aran imagined it would look something like this.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice softly.

Samus whirled around, brandishing her gun, but it was only Olimar. She let her arm drop, and then turned back to the gorgeous scenery. "Yes…definitely. Where…Where are we?"

"The Awakening Wood," said Olimar. "One of the more peaceful places on this planet."

"I feel like I could stand here for hours," breathed Samus. "Are there any hostile inhabitants I should be aware of?"

"Well, there's the Bulborbs," replied Olimar, gesturing behind her.

Samus turned around to see an enormous red spotted creature with bulging eyes, only a few feet away from her. "Holy sh…"

"Don't worry, it's asleep," said the Captain calmly. "And it could stay that way through a hurricane. There are many kinds of Bulborbs, and that one's the least dangerous."

"Oh." Samus frowned. "What about the most dangerous?"

"Best not to talk about that," replied Olimar cheerfully, and not at all comfortingly. "We should devote our attentions elsewhere, to finding the Pikmin!"

"What exactly are these Pikmin like, anyway?" asked Samus, a tiny bit nervous.

"You'll see soon enough!" chuckled the space captain, and started walking away. Samus noticed he had a greater spring in his step than usual. Remembering something she had once heard about the current derelict state of Hocotate, Samus guessed that Olimar probably liked "Erff" a lot more than his home planet.

She followed the captain through a small grove of large red fruit-bearing plants, down a cobbled pathway, and through a small, cold stream. Finally, in a large pool of water, they found one of the oddest objects Samus had ever seen.

It was big, round and blue, and was held up by three long leg-like protrusions that must have been sturdier than they looked. A triangular pattern ran along the side of it, and a flower-shaped propeller spun on the top. It looked like something out of a small child's imagination.

"Er…what is that?" Samus asked warily.

Captain Olimar clapped his hands in delight. "That, my dear, is an Onion!"

"It doesn't look like any onion I've ever seen," said Samus doubtfully.

"No, no, not that kind of Onion," Olimar chortled. "A Pikmin Onion!"

"Well thanks for clearing that up," replied Samus, a tad sarcastically.

"It is a sort of Pikmin mothership," said the voice of the Research Pod unexpectedly from above Samus's head.

"Where the hell did you come from?" shouted Samus.

"The ship," said the red cone in a condescending manner. "And it's nice to see you too, by the way."

"Whatever," said Samus. "So that thing…makes Pikmin?"

"Yes," said the Research Pod. "Please don't ask me to explain that. I'm not so sure how it works either."

"I am!" said Olimar proudly. "After many months of research, I—"

"With all due respect, Captain," said the pod, "please stop talking."

"Oh all right," grumbled Olimar. He was clearly irked at not being able to provide a thorough scientific explanation. Samus was slightly grateful to the Research Pod, in spite of herself.

"Okay," said Samus, thinking she understood. "So…How do we bring the Pikmin out?"

"You simply stand under the green light and tell it how many you want," explained Olimar.

Samus walked hesitantly over to the Onion, and found the stream of greenish light being emitted from the thing's base. She stood under it. "Um…1?"

The Onion jerked and pulsed, and Samus leaped away from it.

"There's no need to be alarmed!" shouted Olimar. Samus drew her gun just in case.

The propeller on top spun until it was a blur, and then a small creature fell out. Samus jumped. The thing was blue, the same shade as the Onion. It had a long antenna stretching out from its head with a leaf on the end. Wide, impossibly large eyes stared at her, and a small pink mouth hung open in amazement. Samus giggled. Was this a Pikmin? It was adorable!

Samus waited for the small creature to make a move, but it continued to stare at her. Holstering he gun, she reached out a hand to the Pikmin. It shifted its gaze to the hand, then it suddenly leapt onto it and clambered up Samus's arm. Seeming to be satisfied with this new vantage point, the Pikmin sat down on Samus's shoulder.

The Hunter laughed again, causing the blue Pikmin to twist its head around in surprise. It wanted to find out what the mysterious noise was. It crawled over to her face and grabbed her nose.

"Hey! Get off!" she said, and tried to pull the Pikmin off her nose. This seemed to make it latch on even harder, eventually just hanging there comically.

She turned helplessly to Olimar, and saw that he was rolling on the ground laughing. The Research Pod continued to float in the air in a bored sort of way.

Samus stared down at the Pikmin. This forced her to go cross-eyed, which made Olimar laugh harder. The Pikmin squeaked indignantly, as if not seeing what was so funny about the situation.

"Here," said Olimar, once he had gotten his breath back. He walked over to Samus and the Pikmin, then tugged gently on the Pikmin's foot. This was meant to make the creature let go, but instead it crawled up to the top of Samus's head and stayed there. Olimar blew into his whistle, but the Pikmin wouldn't budge.

"Wow." Olimar seemed impressed. "He seems to like you a lot. Not even my whistle works!"

"It seems we're stuck with each other," Samus said, looking up at her new passenger. The Pikmin stared back, and yanked hard on her hair. The Hunter yelped, and the creature made a strange gurgling noise, like it was laughing. It reminded her of the Metroid hatchling she had found on SR388. Great.

Olimar was now calling out lots more blue Pikmin, and when they came out, they tackled the Captain in an enormous hug. "I missed you too!" the Captain began to shout, and was smothered by a devoted mob of Pikmin.

Samus gaped. One was bad enough, but now twenty more?

The Pikmin on her head jumped off into her arms, looking up at her adoringly. The hunter sighed, and scratched it lightly on the head. The Pikmin wiggled in delight.

This vacation was going to be more of a handful then she had anticipated.

_Wow, I wrote that all in one sitting. Reviews are great motivation. Please continue to tell me what you think!_


	5. Chapter 5

_I noticed a few __mistakes while reading over that last chapter. One, I spelled the planet of the Pikmin two different ways: "Earff" and "Erff". I'm going to go with the second one from now on (though it really doesn't matter, I guess). _

_Also, there's a small reference to the baby Metroid from Super Metroid in there. I'm not sure of the exact timeline of the series, but I'm pretty sure that game happens after the Prime trilogy, instead of before it. It's not a big deal, but I don't want any Metroid fanatics to get really mad at me. _

_Hmm. That was a long intro. Oh well. Here's a long chapter to go along with it!_

In the dead of night, on the planet dubbed Erff, a small insect poked its head out of the ground. This was a female Sheargrub, a harmless member of a common species that inhabits virtually every area on the planet. It someday would grow into a Shearwig, a more aggressive creature that is able to fly and eat Pikmin.

Or it would have, had it not been crushed by the Delano 7 the very next moment.

The cockpit shield lifted, and Sylux silently emerged. He took in the scenery.

Even the hunter had to admit that this planet was beautiful. It was night, and moonlight reflected off the large lake nearby. It gleamed across his violet armor in an effect not unlike…

Sylux shook his head. He was not the reminiscing type.

He held two fingers to the side of his visor, and began to transmit a message to the space dragon in his cargo hold.

"You can come out of the ship, but first you have to understand a few things," said Sylux. "I've installed a remotely-operated electroshock collar on your neck. If you try to destroy me, betray me, or generally do anything I don't like, let's just say you will have more reason to be unhappy than I will."

There was at first silence, then a mocking "_Yes, Chief."_

Sylux frowned, then pressed a button on his glove. There was a buzzing sound, then a howl of pain from the cargo hold.

"That was but a small demonstration of what I'm talking about," said Sylux. "Notice that you are still conscious."

Inside Sylux's ship, Ridley scowled. "_Damn you."_

"I invite you to say that again."

Ridley didn't.

Sylux pressed another button on his glove, and the door to the cargo hold slid open. Ridley rushed out at once.

The space dragon sniffed the air and hissed. _"I smell flowers. I hate flowers."_

"Deal with it," Sylux replied.

"_So what do we do now?" _asked Ridley.

"We find Aran," replied Sylux simply.

"_How?" _Ridley retorted. _"We have no idea where we are. And why do you want to kill Samus so badly, anyway?"_

"Why do you?"

"_Because she's a bitch, and _she's_ always trying to kill _me._"_

Sylux laughed mirthlessly. "I wonder why."

Ridley snarled. "_Shut up. You haven't answered my question."_

"I have my reasons," replied Sylux enigmatically, walking away.

The Space Pirate commander spat at the ground in frustration and followed him. His orange spittle hit a patch of grass, which then withered and died.

Sylux stopped at the edge of the lake. "There's something wrong with this place. I can feel it."

Ridley laughed. "_If you say that it's 'quiet, too quiet,' I'll have to kill you."_

"Well, it is quiet," said Sylux. "But that's not i—"

Suddenly there was a booming sound like thunder, and an enormous shadow fell over the two. Ridley flew away at once. Sylux ran after him, aiming shots at the thing above them.

When he was a safe distance away, the hunter looked up. The "thing" that had landed was an enormous, four-legged spider-like creature. It was a mottled orange color, and it periodically stomped its large round feet.

Sylux scanned the monster. _"Beady Long Legs", scientific name Pseudoarachnia armoralis, _read the hunter's visor. _Member of the Arachnorb family. Its main method of attack and defense is to crush possible threats under its feet. Avoid contact with aforementioned feet._

Sylux studied the creature. It didn't seem to pose an immediate threat; though it was large and intimidating, it was quite slow, and had no discernible method of attack other than to step on him.

However, Sylux could never back away from a good hunt.

He aimed at one of the thing's spindly legs with his Shock Coil weapon, and let out a stream of electricity that latched onto the appendage. The creature roared, which was strange, as Sylux could discern no visible mouth.

He didn't think about this very much and instead concentrated his thoughts on the kill. He circled the creature quickly, winding the beam around its legs until the monster was hopelessly entangled. Sylux then yanked on the gun, and the colossus toppled to the ground.

The creature roared again, this time in pain, and Sylux retracted the coil. A long violet blade slid out from the hunter's wrist.

The Arachnorb waved its legs in the air feebly. Sylux looked down at it dispassionately. This thing was an aberration. In the hunter's eyes, it deserved to die.

In a quick, fluid motion, Sylux emotionlessly drove the blade into the creature. It howled once, and then seemed to wither away until it was nothing more than a small golden orb.

Sylux picked this up and looked at it for a moment, then attached it to his back.

"Let this be a reminder to anything else that challenges me," the hunter said in a loud, cold voice. "Rest assured you will meet the same fate."

In that moment, it seemed as if the very air shuddered.

--

Ridley soared through the air, roaring in triumph. It felt good to be able to fly again. Let that foolish hunter destroy the beast. He had to be extremely foolish to believe that the electro-collar would work from this great a distance. Ridley, last of the space dragons, obeyed no one.

He continued to glide over the landscape, then noticed something strange down below. It seemed to be a large black orb, with a violet propeller spinning on top.

_What the hell is that? _thought Ridley incredulously, and flew down to investigate.

He landed lightly on a nearby tree branch and observed the object. Three long stilit-like protrusions stuck out from beneath it, and the propeller on top closely resembled a flower. A faint green ray of light shone out from between the 'legs.'

He dropped down and stuck his head under the object. "_HELLO IN THERE."_

The thing suddenly shook violently, and Ridley quickly withdrew his head. The flower-propeller spun rapidly, and then spat out a small black seed.

The space dragon watched as the seed fell and buried itself in the ground. A small stem with a disproportionately large leaf on the end immediately sprouted out of the soil.

Ridley eyed it suspiciously. Something this small couldn't possibly be dangerous.

Right?

He shook his head. The great Commander Ridley's reputation would be ruined if he carried on like this. The space dragon grabbed the stem between two of his claws and yanked hard.

To Ridley's surprise, the stem was attached to the head of an extremely small, black, vaguely humanoid creature. However, the strangest aspect of this life form was perhaps the color of its eyes; they were an icy shade of blue. This unnerved Ridley greatly, but he wasn't sure why.

The creature stared at him. Ridley roared at it, but its gaze was unwavering.

The space dragon moved to the right. The creature followed.

Ridley squatted to the ground. The creature did the same.

Finally Ridley took to the air, and, to his surprise, the creature copied this as well. The large leaf separated into two and acted as a pair of wings.

The space dragon and the plant-animal dropped to the ground.

Ridley considered this new development. He could always just incinerate the thing. However, a creature that did anything he told it to? Now there was an enticing idea.

An army…even more so.

"_Are there more of you?" _ Ridley asked the creature, not expecting an answer.

However, as if on cue, the black creature flapped away. It came back a few seconds later holding a flat round object in its claws, the same color as its skin.

Ridley watched intently as it brought the object to the green ray of light under the big round thing, It was immediately swallowed up by the beam. A few seconds later, the orb (which Ridley decided must be some sort of mothership) spat out two more seeds.

The space dragon plucked these eagerly, and sure enough, two more of the creatures popped out of the ground.

Ridley grinned. He could get used to this.

--

Deep beneath the earth, something stirred. The ones who had defeated it before had returned, it seemed. Accompanying them was a presence the creature didn't recognize. The voices inside its brain clearly loathed the new arrival greatly. It must have wronged them somehow in the past.

And any enemies of the voices were the creature's enemies too.

The voices had appeared not too long ago (the creature had no concept of time; it had lived underground and in isolation for far too long). There had been an enormous flash of blue light, and a sound like thunder. When the creature had awoken, the voices were speaking to it, telling it secrets.

The creature liked the voices. They told it many things of the outside world, and of the universe. They said they were on a great quest to—this took some explaining, but eventually the creature understood—persuade the universe towards their way of thinking.

They said that the beings of the many galaxies were ignorant and foolish, and needed to be helped on their way to true knowledge. The creature thought this sounded quite noble, and was eager to help.

Those vile spacemen and their vermin slaves threatened the existence of the voices and the success of their quest. The creature narrowed all eight of its beady eyes, and clicked its mandibles menacingly.

Let them come. They would not escape alive.

--

_So, Sylux just killed a giant spider in less than a minute, Ridley has inadvertently discovered Black Pikmin, and a deadly monster waits below the surface. Samus and Olimar sure have their work cut out for them. And they don't even know it yet._

_Wow, that sounded like a cheesy movie commercial._

_I have plans for this story that are so cool I'm tempted to give them away, but I won't. And as always, feedback only helps me improve. Please continue to R&R!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Uh…I can't think of that much to say here._

_HAL-9001: Yes, I definitely plan to explain what Sylux's motivations are. Stay tuned._

_I've tried to do a considerable amount of research on the Metroid series, considering I haven't actually played every game, but if anyone notices any inconsistencies or OOCness or whatever, telling me would be great. _

_I guess I thought of something to say after all. Anyway, here's chapter 6._

There is a rare sort of vine that only grows once a year in one small jungle grove on planet Erff. Hocotatian scientists have been searching for this grove for many years, ever since a Hocotate Freight employee by the name of Louie brought a sample back from the planet. Unfortunately, it was brought back baked into a pie, apparently as "a snack for later", so a live sample was never found.

However, two years later, the grove was discovered once again, and the rare vine could be examined for any amazing medicinal properties it may have possessed.

Unfortunately, it was in the way of Samus Aran.

Slicing through an unremarkable-looking green plant in her path, Samus cursed whatever made the jungle so damn hot. She wiped sweat off her forehead irritably.

She normally wouldn't have to do this, as her Power Suit was internally air-conditioned, but she currently didn't have her Power Suit. At least the air was mostly composed of oxygen, so she didn't have to wear that infernal breathing mask.

Olimar, however, belonged to a species that breathed carbon monoxide, so he had to wear his fish bowl helmet. He didn't look quite as excited as he had when he had first suggested they look for Pikmin in the jungle.

The space captain kept mumbling to himself and switching directions. He was trying to look like he knew where he was going, but wasn't doing a very good job. However, his posse of Blue Pikmin followed his every move eagerly. Samus thought this was a little unnerving, but Olimar almost seemed not to notice.

Samus looked up. The sun was still high in the sky, shining through the enormous green canopy of leaves. How did these trees grow so tall?

A shadow fell across her vision. Cursing, Samus drew her paralyzer gun and leapt backwards.

The shadow fell forwards and tumbled to the ground. Samus sighed and holstered her gun again. It was only her "friend," the Blue Pikmin.

It squeaked in annoyance and clambered up her arm back onto her head again. No matter what she did, it always came back to its favorite perch. Perhaps it was just because Olimar's head wasn't high enough.

"Do you have any idea when and where we might be finding more Pikmin?" asked Samus.

Olimar looked up. "Erwha?"

"What the good Captain means to say," droned the Research Pod from overhead, "is that he has absolutely no idea."

"Yes I do!" retorted Olimar indignantly. "Well…er…What I mean to say is…"

"I believe you have proved my point rather satisfactorily," said the Research Pod smugly, hovering further into the air. "From my scans, there seem to be biological readings coming from nearby, in the…let's see…from the east direction."

Samus pointed a finger at the machine. "I swear, if you're messing around…"

"Why on earth would I try to confuse you wonderful people?" replied the Research Pod in mock surprise. "With all seriousness, it is quite impossible for me to lie. It is against my programming."

Samus looked to Olimar for confirmation. The space captain nodded wearily.

"East it is then."

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally came to a small copse of trees. Lounging on the branches were small yellow creatures that, upon closer inspection, appeared to possess ears that looked too big for their heads, as well as antennae with leaves on the ends.

"Ah, the Yellow Pikmin!" cried Olimar joyfully. "Quite a remarkable species. Their ears enable them to catch small updrafts of wind and be thrown unusually high. They're also resistant to electricity and small explosions."

"Hm," replied Samus, impressed. "They don't look like much."

"Thank you for the science lesson, Captain," said the Research Pod testily. "Now I would recommend calling them to you as soon as possible. They might be eaten by a large bird at any second." The pod seemed to consider this for a moment. "Although, come to process it, that would be rather entertaining."

"Um, indeed, I believe calling them would be a good idea," said Olimar nervously, eyeing the sky (and the Research Pod, for good measure). "Let's go and meet the Yellow Pikmin."

They walked slowly towards the creatures' tree. The Pikmin stared down at them curiously, and when Olimar blew his whistle, one leapt down to investigate.

Its large eyes took in the new arrivals with amazement. Samus returned its gaze warily. One head-passenger was more than enough.

After a while, it seemed to decide the weirdos were not a threat, and it ran forward. The other ones soon followed, hopping down and joining Olimar's squad. The blues and yellows waved their leaves at each other. Samus assumed they were communicating somehow. She wondered what they were saying.

Suddenly she realized something strange. "Where's their ship?"

Olimar, who was looking over the Pikmin fondly, turned around. "Sorry?"

"The mothership thing, their…er, Onion," said Samus awkwardly. "The blue ones had one. Where's the yellows'?"

"That's an extremely good question," agreed Olimar worriedly. He turned to his Pikmin. "Can any of you tell me where the Yellow Onion is?"

Samus thought this wouldn't accomplish much, but apparently a Yellow seemed to understand him, and it quickly disappeared into the jungle. A few moments later, it poked its head out of the bushes, beckoning urgently for them to follow.

Olimar started walking after it, and Samus followed hesitantly. She had a bad feeling about this, and Samus Aran's feelings were almost always correct.

After a few seconds after walking, the Yellow Pikmin stopped at the edge of a small clearing. It shakily pointed one of its stubby hands towards the other end of the clearing.

Samus squinted, and saw the Yellow Onion standing peacefully on its three legs as if nothing was wrong.

If that was so, why were the Pikmin staying so far away from it?

The Blue Pikmin on her head hopped off and ran back to join its brethren. That was a bad sign.

"I don't see what the problem is," said Olimar. He seemed to be completely unfazed. He began to walk across the clearing.

"I do not believe this is the most intelligent course of action," buzzed the Research Pod with a nervous tint to its voice.

"Wait, Olimar!" shouted Samus. "There's something-"

_FOOM! _An enormous thingshot out of the ground, so fast Samus couldn't tell what it was. The force of the explosion knocked Olimar to the ground.

Once it stopped moving, she saw that its body was like that of a giant snake, with green scales that shone brilliantly, and a large, replilian foot on the end. Its head was more frightening, and extremely bizarre; it looked like it belonged to a carnivorous bird of some kind, with a black-feathered head and serrated teeth.

It shrieked horribly and spread a pair of gigantic black wings.

"The Black-Feathered Snarrow," breathed Olimar, with a sense of horrified fascination. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the monster. "Cousin to the Burrowing Snagret, but twice as dangerous, and capable of flight…Believed by most scientists to be extinct…"

"Who cares what it is?! It's about to eat us!" beeped the Research Pod frantically. "Run for your pathetically short lives!"

"I'll hold it off," said Samus in what she hoped was a brave-sounding voice, looking up at the monstrosity. "All of you, get to safety."

"Though that may have been needlessly dramatic, I applaud your bravery," replied the Research Pod. "As well as self-sacrifice. Goodbye."

It sped away eagerly, dragging Olimar (who appeared to be in shock) with its tractor beam. Samus leapt aside as the Snarrow snapped its enormous jaws at her, missing her by millimeters.

Suddenly she realized with amazement that the Pikmin hadn't followed Olimar. At least ten of them were latched onto the Snarrow's head, beating valiantly at it with their leaves. The creature shook them off easily, but it bought Samus enough time to jump onto the Snarrow's back.

The aberration screamed as Samus began to climb up its back. Unexpectedly, the Snarrow twisted its head around backwards and snapped at her. Scrambling to avoid the terrifying beak, Samus accidentally yanked out one of the creature's feathers.

The Snarrow went berserk. It crashed around on its single foot and twisted in agony, its head spinning around like a top gone insane.

The bird-snake flapped its wings once, and took to the air.

Struggling to maintain her hold, Samus continued to climb, with agonizing slowness. The wind shrilled around her--or was that the Snarrow? The air and the noise were almost too much.

It would almost certainly be too much for anyone other than Samus Aran.

With a sudden burst of strength, the bounty hunter propelled herself onto the Snarrow's head, holding on to its crest feathers. Its wingbeats almost knocked her off, but she managed to hold on, and lowered her gun at the space between the monster's eyes.

She pulled the trigger multiple times, but her paralyzer gun seemed to have little effect other than to make the Snarrow angrier. It snapped at her hungrily, and she just barely dodged.

Suddenly, Samus had an idea. The bounty hunter wrapped both of her hands around one of the creature's crest feathers, and yanked savagely. It ripped out in her hands, causing the Snarrow to shriek again. It beat its wings even more furiously, going higher and higher into the air, but the Hunter held on resolutely.

Samus leveled the feather at the Snarrow's large red eye, as if it were a javelin. This would not be pretty.

"Go to hell," she shouted, and drove the Snarrow's feather into its brain.

The monster began to shriek again, but then it stopped.

And then everything started to move very, very fast.

The Black-Feathered Snarrow began to plummet to earth. Samus propelled herself off of its head, and tried to angle her descent at the canopy of leaves below. This was a lot more easily said then done; the force of the wind was blinding her.

The ground was getting closer and closer. Bracing herself for an incredibly painful impact, Samus closed her eyes.

However, instead of the resounding _THUD _she had expected, she continued to move through the air, but forward instead of down.

The bounty hunter slowly opened her eyes again. Something smooth and very cold had her in its grasp, and was flying at a leisurely pace through the air. Samus tried to crane her neck around to see who or what it was, but this proved to be useless.

Whatever it was soon began to head back to earth again, and landed with a sound like icy wind. Samus' heart gave a start. Could it be…?

Her benefactor set her down gently, and she spun around.

"Rundas?" she cried.

The wild feeling of excitement soon faded away as she recognized a considerably less welcome acquaintance. A violet crustacean-like creature unfolded long legs and stood up. "I believe you have me mistaken for someone else," it said in an eerily smooth voice.

"Noxus," said Samus coolly, trying to hide her disappointment. Rundas was dead. That couldn't be changed.

She pointed her gun at the Vhozon's head. "What do you want?"

Noxus blinked his lavender eyes and held his arms out in an offended gesture. "Not even a thank you? I suppose that should be expected from a lower life form such as yourself."

"Afraid so," replied Samus, staying where she was. "Whatever that means. I repeat: What do you want?"

The Vhozon let his arms drop to his sides. Over six feet tall, and possessing limbs that could slice through small tree trunks, Noxus was quite an imposing sight. Samus tried not to let this show.

"I bring you greetings and apologies from the Vhozon High Court," said the icy hunter. "They believe they were mistaken in sending me to acquire the Ultimate Power and eliminate you."

"Great," said Samus. "I suppose that makes it all better."

Noxus chuckled. "I expected your response to be as much. However, that is not the main reason I was sent. The Vhozon recognize your value to the galaxy, and believe it is their duty to warn you that you are in grave danger."

Samus rolled her eyes. "Aren't I always?"

"I suppose that is true," replied Noxus. "But if I am correct, you will die in the next few minutes unless you follow me."

Samus hadn't really expected that.

Noxus produced his weapon, the Judicator. "Or I could kill you. Your choice."

_Well, that doesn't leave many options. On a side note, I believe shoving a monster's own feather into its eye may be the awesomest way to kill something ever. As always, review review blah blah blah. See you (or not) next chapter!_


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm really excited about some new directions I'm taking this, but I won't spoil anything. Chapter 7—HO!_

"Kill me?" Samus asked incredulously. "I thought you said the Vhozon believed I was valuable?"

"Not in the wrong hands," Noxus replied smoothly. "The individual who is currently tracking you is a highly trained killer and a known hater of anything to do with the Galactic Federation."

This description brought only one person to mind. "_Sylux?"_

Noxus inclined his head slightly. "Without my assistance, the Vhozon see no logical way for you to escape this hunter. Almost all of his weaponry is stolen Federation technology. If you are allowed to be captured by this…Sylux, who knows what he might find out, and eventually acquire? What havoc he might wreak?"

Samus's mind was racing. How long had she been followed? "Wait, why do you care? Sylux's only target seems to be the Federation, and they've never been on particularly good terms with the Vhozon."

The violet hunter laughed dryly. "I'm afraid there is much you don't know about your exalted Federation, Samus Aran. They make more dealings with us than you might think."

Ignoring this ominous statement, Samus continued with her questioning. "If you're so worried about Federation technology falling into the wrong hands, why don't you just kill me, and get it for yourself?"

Noxus eyed her quizzically. "You do seem awfully eager to find logical reasons for your own demise, Ms. Aran. Again, the Vhozon believe you are extremely valuable to the general welfare and protection of the galaxy. However, if you choose to refuse our help, we will be forced to eliminate you."

Samus narrowed her eyes. "This is blackmail."

"This is justice," responded Noxus coldly. He pointed the Judicator at Samus's head. "I would advise you to choose wisely."

**--Planet Hocotate--**

President Shyacho of Hocotate Freight was not having a good week.

A rather large amount of customers had first sent angry letters complaining about a number of products his company had sold them. For example, apparently the so-called "Shock Therapist" had conveniently lacked a label that stated it could cause unconsciousness and large headaches. Shyacho shook his head. The sheer nerve of some people.

Then there had been that crashed UFO. Some idiot had driven his bright green ship into the ground, causing untold property damage and general annoyance. However, it had also generated a large amount of news coverage, which would hopefully lead to more Hocotate Freight brand recognition (and more money).

And that kid. The president had never known exactly what to think of Louie, but he liked to think the rookie employee showed a lot of potential. However, Louie's mind had been somewhere else lately. He said he could speak to bugs, and that they called him their king.

Shyacho snorted. How ridiculous. And the "King of Bugs" was costing him valuable cargo every time he screwed up.

It was always like this whenever Olimar was gone. Something bad would happen, and the President wouldn't know how to fix it, and then it would slowly snowball into an Emperor Bulblax-sized problem.

And then Olimar would return, and put things right with astounding ease.

Shyacho harrumphed in irritation. Why did his employees want vacations, anyway? What more important things could they possibly have to do than work for Hocotate Freight and earn him money? It made no sense.

Suddenly the phone rang loudly. The President scrambled across the room as fast as his tubby body could carry him and grabbed it eagerly. (Shyacho had a philosophy that stated any phone call could be the one telling you you've won the lottery. It wasn't a particularly reasonable philosophy, but he didn't care.)

"Hello?" he asked expectantly.

The voice on the end of the line made him shudder.

"I believe you owe me some money," said the chilling voice of his loan agent.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shyacho replied, nervously tugging his collar. "I paid back that loan months…years ago!"

"I'm not talking about that," the Loan Shark (as he was popularly known) replied.

"Oh," said Shyacho, feeling confused. "Then what is it?"

"A large shipment of your finest quality fireworks was recently lost in transit," said the loan agent emotionlessly. "I'm afraid that was worth a rather large amount of money."

The President began to sweat. "How much?"

"A little over 1200 pokos," replied the Loan Shark.

"Oh," said Shyacho. "That's not too bad."

The president could almost hear his nemesis smiling evilly over the phone. "That's not including tax."

Shyacho started sweating again.

--

Louie was currently sitting on his couch, watching the Cooking Channel.

He had always been told he had a sense for good food, but he it only been two years ago that he had started putting this to good use. While on the Planet of the Pikmin with the great Captain Olimar, he had discovered a talent for cooking elaborate dishes of the monsters they had defeated. He had even written a cookbook, which had become a surprise best-seller.

Unfortunately, his talent for cooking didn't translate to good business sense, so his money had been wired to a bank account somewhere (his agent, for some reason, wasn't too keen on the details) and he was still working at the decidedly unimpressive Hocotate Freight.

At least he still had his TV. That was a nice constant.

The phone beeped frantically. Louie let it ring a few times out of laziness, then slowly got up and walked over to pick it up. Nothing really surprised him.

"Hello?" he said in his usual semi-slurred voice.

"Louie?" an anxious voice said on the other end. "Is that you?"

"Uh…" Louie pondered this for a few seconds. "Oh, yeah, it's me."

"Er, right," replied his boss. "Anyway, we have a HUGE PROBLEM!"

"Huge problem?" Louie asked dimly. "What is it?"

"You know that load of fireworks you were assigned to deliver a few months ago?" Shyacho asked.

"Let's see…Yeah. Yeah, I do." Louie said. He remembered the big EXPLOSIVE signs on all the boxes. "Uh…What's that got to do with anything?"

"What exactly happened to them?" queried Shyacho testily.

"Hmm." That was a hard one. "Well, I was going to deliver it, just like you said, but…"

"But? pressured the Hocotate Freight president.

"But then this nice guy, his name was, like, Max or something, he said he would deliver them for me. He was really cool. He had this wicked red hairdo, and this black jumpsuit."

The other end was silent for a few minutes. Louie waited patiently.

"Louie?" Shyacho said finally.

"Yeah, boss?" Louie asked cheerfully.

"Black jumpsuits are the uniform of our competitor, Aeronautical Space Shipping."

Louie sniggered. "ASS."

"It's not funny!" barked the President.

Louie stopped laughing. "Well, who knows, boss, he might've been…I dunno, _jogging _or something…"

"_In a # black jumpsuit?" _screeched Shyacho.

Louie sighed. "All right, boss. I screwed up. Whaddaya want me to do?"

"I want you to find the shipment, is what I want you to do!" shouted the President. "I want you to find it and take it back, so we can sue those frauds' asses for all they're worth!"

His employee sniggered again. "ASS's asses…"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Shyacho. "Do you have any idea how stressed out I am?!"

"…Some," replied Louie quietly.

The President regained some of his composure. "Please, _please _find that shipment, Louie. If you don't…then we're all in big trouble."

"All right, Boss," said Louie enthusiastically. "You can totally count on me! I'll get that shipment back so fast, those ASSes won't even know what hit 'em!" He hung up the phone with an enormous clatter.

Back in his office, Shyacho frowned. Why did he get the overpowering feeling that this was a really bad idea?

--

In the cargo hold of Louie's ship, parked in Hocotate Freight's garage, something woke up.

Vague memories floated around in its head. Fighting...escaping...crashing...Most of them were fragmented beyond recognition. However, there were two things its primitive brain held on to.

The first was a name, Kanden

The second was an instinct. Kill.

_Ah, Louie is fun to write._

_I am aware that my writing style can be somewhat overly dramatic at times, but being the geek that I am, I just can't resist cliffhangers. Please do bear with me._


End file.
